Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Doherty for bringing forward this Bill. There has a been much anger in recent months about the behaviour by, and friendships of, certain members of the Government. Big businesses, developers and speculators have always had a direct line to Ministers and senior Government officials. I am currently helping a family of two adults and seven children who are forced to live in a three-bedroom house. Two of the children have special needs. If their case had been discussed at the Oireachtas golf outing, would they still be stuck living like this? Another woman I am working with has a child who suffered a brain injury at only eight months old. She has another child with autism spectrum disorder. She is living in seriously overcrowded conditions and it is damaging her children's mental health and well-being. If she could have sent a text to the Tánaiste asking for a house, rather than a confidential document, would an approval confirmation have been couriered over to her?

I am also in contact with a mother who has serious mental health issues that are being made worse by her living conditions. She has been on the housing list for eight and a half years and is waiting five years for her landlord to repair a leaking roof in her building. If only the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage were to become a chief lobbyist for her, as a former Minister of State at the Department of Finance did for the banks. I understand the frustration ordinary people are experiencing with the housing situation. Nine years go, I proposed that 800 houses be built on the Old Whitechurch Road in Cork - the Minister knows the location - to help address the housing crisis in the city. I put forward that proposal at a meeting of Cork City Council, not at a fancy dinner party, and, unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.

Parents are contacting me because their children are waiting for assessments of needs and to access services. The vulture funds did not have to wait. We need to put a stop to unfair lobbying and the practice of Government cosying up to big businesses and developers. Such activity harms ordinary people. They are the people we should be listening to and for whom we should be acting.

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